Several years ago, a former colleague asked a group of lay leaders in the church what they would expect to hear if their pastor ever talked about money in the church. One person quipped, “Money is evil. Give it all to the church!”
Perhaps it is true that the main emphasis of financial teaching in the church is about giving. Is that all there is to authentic financial discipleship? This assumes that, once we get the giving part figured out, we’ve done enough to connect our faith with our finances.
It is clear from the biblical story that giving generously of our material re-
sources is essential to our spiritual maturity. In his book Giving to God, Lutheran biblical scholar Mark Allan Powell writes, “God definitely wants us to give some of our money away, but God is also interested in what we do with the rest of our money.”
Powell uses the word “ARMS” as a “nifty” acronym to describe four aspects of financial discipleship. We are faithful when we Acquire, Regard, Manage and Spend money in God-pleasing ways. The following are some reflections on Powell’s suggestions:
• We faithfully acquire money when we are committed to earning a living in ways marked by honesty and integrity. While this sounds obvious, it can be difficult to assess whether we acquire money without causing difficulty or harm to others in our complex global economy. Further, we may need to consider whether or not our acquisition depends on exploiting resources and creating an unsustainable footprint. Financial discipleship allows us to reflect on these ideals and on the purpose we have for acquiring money.
• We regard money in God-pleasing ways when our attitude towards money is marked by gratitude and trust. Gratitude is the result of understanding that all we have and are is a gift of God. We are not entitled to what we have. From a space of gratitude, we can also begin to learn to trust in God’s provision that releases us from overwhelming worry about money.
• Being a wise steward is a biblical image that describes how we faithfully manage money. Managing well is a learned behaviour. This means we should be taking the opportunity to learn how to budget, invest and use our money wisely.
• Spending is also part of faithful financial discipleship. God wants us to lead abundant and joy-filled lives, but we must remember that God desires this for all of humanity. Spending for the sake of accumulating more possessions is rarely the root of joy in our lives. In fact, studies show that we find more joy when we spend money on others rather than on ourselves.
Acquire, Regard, Manage, Spend: We may be surprised to find that when we embrace these aspects of financial discipleship, we have more money to give away! This can be a delightful result of making a clear connection between our faith in a generous God and our finances.
Dori Zerbe Cornelsen is a member of Mennonite Church Canada’s Engagement Council and a stewardship consultant for Mennonite Foundation of Canada.
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